


I'll Walk The World With You

by vallahwillbemyheaven



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Dragons, Fighting, Fluff, Love, M/M, Magic, Racism, Starvation, War, alternate universe - skyrim
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-25
Updated: 2015-09-25
Packaged: 2018-04-23 08:13:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4869668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vallahwillbemyheaven/pseuds/vallahwillbemyheaven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two Nords, a Breton, A High Elf, A Wood Elf, and an Imperial set out for the adventure of their life times. Armed with their weapons and wit, these six adventure out into the land of Skyrim, exploring ancient burial grounds and battle fronts, joining up with secret organizations and universities, and tackling the world's most fearsome foe; the Dragon! Between love and heartbreak, the battle for religion, and the ancient stories, will the sixsome survive?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Chance Meeting

Geoffrey Ramsey was like most Nord men; he favored two handed weapons to a regular sword, he was a soldier, and he believed that Talos was one of the Nine Divines. Screw that Eight Divines shit.

Geoff was currently staying at an inn in Rorikstead, having recently collected a bounty on a bandit camp and needing to recuperate. The only other paying customer in the inn was an Imperial who went by the name Jack Pattillo who Geoff had talked to a few times since arriving.

Currently, Geoff was trying to enjoy watered down ale that he barely even felt. Jack was sitting across from him enjoying a meal and Geoff was considering talking to him instead of trying to drink crappy alcohol.

Before Geoff could make up his mind on that however, there came shouting from outside the inn. Both Geoff and Jack came to their feet at the same time, drawing their weapons as they walked out to see bandits attacking.

They joined the guards together in utterly destroying the bandits; Geoff with his warhammer and Jack with his sword and shield. They ended up teaming up on the bandit chief himself and took him out after a few minutes of fighting with him.

“You know,” Jack said, looking to the body of the man they had just killed, “we make a pretty good team, Geoff Ramsey.”

“Guess we do,” Geoff replied. After a minute, he put away his warhammer and turned on his heel to face Jack, who was already walking away. “You know, I could always use a companion to roam Skyrim with.”

Jack turned his head to look at Geoff over his shoulder a smiled. “Are you asking me to travel the country with you, then?” he asked.

“Absolutely.”

The two left Rorikstead together, headed for wherever the winds carried them. The winds apparently wanted them to go to Karthwasten, because that was where they were headed. They had been travelling for hours, evident by the fact that the sun had been out when they left Rorikstead. They had been talking about everything and yet nothing at all when they came across a man who was unconscious on the side of the road. He wore the robes of a mage and looked absolutely wrecked.

Geoff and Jack were both rather quick to his side, trying to wake him up. Now, they knew the stories of bandits trying to lure others by making themselves look hurt, but a bandit or two Jack and Geoff could most definitely handle. The man groaned after thirty minutes of Geoff and Jack doing everything they could to wake him.

“Holy shit, my head,” said the man as Jack and Geoff sat him up. He rubbed at his forehead and winced loudly. “Feels like it got bashed in by a shield…”

“What the hell happened to you?” Geoff asked finally after the mystery man stopped rubbing his head.

“I lost a duel. Got punched into Oblivion by a frost atronach,” said the man. “Ryan Haywood, by the way.”

“Geoff Ramsey, Jack Pattillo,” Geoff replied, pointing to himself and then Jack in turn as he stood up. Jack helped pull Ryan off the ground.

“Thank you. Where were you guys headed before my completely unconscious body threw you off course?” Ryan asked, fixed his robe and dusting off the sleeves.

“Karthwasten, I think. We’re not really sure; just wandering for now,” Jack replied.

“I was headed there, too, I think. Getting your head knocked around by a frost atronach really messes with your memories,” Ryan said, a chuckle to his voice. Geoff shrugged.

“You wanna come with us then?” he asked. Ryan smiled.

“If you’re offering, then sure.”

The three of them ended up travelling much farther than Karthwasten; in fact, they ended up going everywhere together. Before they arrived at Karthwasten, they had run into a flame atronach that Ryan helped them take down, happily collecting the fire salts that came from his enemy. Jack and Geoff were so impressed that the made an offer to Ryan: Team up with them and be part of what might quickly become a mercenary company. Ryan accepted.

For a year, the three of them travelled throughout Skyrim, taking on bounty hunts and brawls and getting back things stolen by thieves. It was necessarily boring work. But, on the other side of that boring work, all three discovered something about themselves; they had fallen in love with two men they had grown to call their best friends.

Ryan brought up the fact that all three of them had been flirting with each other for more than a month when they were sat in some inn in the middle of nowhere, Skyrim. That seemed to make both Geoff and Jack realize that it wasn’t one-sided flirting and Ryan could have called and right into romantic territory.

A month later they would meet a man named Michael, an aspiring companion, in Whiterun. He worked in the inn and upon hearing their talk of a nearby bandit camp, made a bet that he could take it out without any help for a hundred coin. Geoff agreed to it without batting a lash, only to have Michael return an hour later with a triumphant look on his face, asking for his payment. Instead, Geoff had offered him a job; the opportunity to travel Skyrim, a reason Michael had wanted to join the companions, along with all the gold he’d need in life. Michael readily accepted.

Gavin was the next person to join in their group. He was a high elf Michael had protected from some racist Nords who had apparently been following him for miles. Geoff and Michael, who were Nords themselves, could hardly believe someone could put up with those kind of slurs for that long. Gavin told them he only did so because he wasn’t particularly threatening as his weapon of choice was a dagger. Decked out in light Elven armor, Michael assumed that Gavin would be snobby without really thinking about the implications.

Gavin turned out to be quite the opposite. Where most high elves were really full of themselves, Gavin was simply a fun-loving calamity. He and Michael ended up falling in love a few months after meeting each other. Geoff would always chuckle something about young love when they kissed.

The last member of their group to join them was a wood elf named Ray; an archer by nature who had tried to steal from them. Upon seeing how absolutely hungry the wood elf had looked, they more than happily just handed food over and let him rest. He told them his name, and that he hadn’t been able to shoot a deer in a month because his eyesight had been going.

Ryan quickly offered a solution in the form of glass lenses, the same that Jack and Michael wore and that he wore occasionally. Ray thanked him for it before heading off. They found him again later the next day, sack full of rabbits he had killed. He showed off his skill when another rabbit hopped across his path and he shot it in the head.

Geoff offered him a job too, saying they could use an archer anyway. Ray smiled and accepted because it was a way for him to get money.

And so the six of them travelled Skyrim for another year before it collectively came to a standstill upon realizing what had happened. They had all fallen in love with all five other men and they decided that to deal with it, they would go to Falkreath for a month. They left Falkreath as a big, polyamorous couple and they couldn’t be happier with their life choices. Ray would say that Y’ffre brought them together, through some force of Mother Nature, while Gavin would say it was Anu, but Geoff, Jack, Ryan, and Michael would all argue that it was Mara.

The six of them began calling themselves the Achievement Hunters, and they became slightly famous in Skyrim for how well they did their jobs. Sometimes they even got free drinks at inns for their efforts. Life was absolutely wonderful for them; between the gold and the love for each other, nothing could really go wrong in their lives. It was all one big adventure.


	2. Caught off Guard

The boys had been traveling by the light of Michael’s torch for hours. Night had fallen when they had been in a high walled ravine with no room to set up a camp, which left them with one option; keep walking. Ryan had helped as much he could with the lighting issue by using candlelight, but Ryan had recently used up his magic and was much too tired to recast it anyway. That left them with just Michael’s torch, which could honestly run out at any second.

The entire time the six of them had been walking through the ravine, Ray had been completely on edge. His ears would twitch and his hand would fly to his quiver, only for him to relax and brush it off as if nothing happened. It had slowly been putting everyone else on edge as well.

Michael’s torch finally went out after another hour of walking and Michael scowled, throwing the now useless piece of wood into the wall. The lack of light put Ray even more on edge, now constantly looking to the sky as if he was expecting something.

“Akatosh, Ray, you’d think you were expecting death to rain down from the sky or something,” Michael said, chuckling back at the slightly younger male. Ray just glared before rolling his shoulders as he came up with a response.

“I kind of am. I don’t know, something just feels extremely off to me and I can’t put my finger to it,” Ray said, frowning as he looked to the sky again. As if on cue, a large black shape moved across the sky and that sent all six of them pressing against a wall of the ravine.

“Was that a..?” Jack went to ask, but Geoff covered his mouth with a hand.

“Okay, so I am going to make the suggestion to keep calm and move slowly. I don’t think it saw us,” Geoff said, moving his warhammer from his back. “But just in case.”

Everyone nodded and pulled out their weapons as well. Ray kept an arrow in hand with his bow just in case, Gavin stayed behind the Michael because he was holding a greatsword, and Jack was carefully following Geoff with his sword and shield. As they moved on the path, they made sure to keep their eyes to the sky.

Soon, they reached Nightgate Inn and decided to stay there for the rest of the night, Geoff being the only one who didn’t sleep. Instead, he spoke to the innkeeper about what they had seen.

“You know, they say Helgen got attacked by a dragon,” said the innkeeper, a Nord by the name of Hadring. “Maybe you saw one of them. They’ve been popping up all over Skyrim. Bad luck of the Nords.”

Geoff nodded but said nothing after the fact except to order more mead. He didn’t want to think about dragons right then, not when he life was finally perfect, civil war be damned. He didn’t sleep at all that night, too worried about what possibilities the future held.

In the morning, Geoff suggested they went on to Windhelm, and even though Gavin and Ray were adverse to it for obvious reasons, they agreed. When they left the inn, a blizzard was already brewing outside and almost immediately Gavin’s teeth began to chatter. Michael sighed and tossed his furs at Gavin.

“Don’t get hypothermia not even an hour away from the city, alright?” Michael said. Gavin just nodded and wrapped the furs around him, feeling only slightly warmer. Michael grumbled before lifting the high elf onto his back and feeling him just absolutely melt.

Geoff chuckled before heading out of the safety of the inn and onto the road. For a Nord, this storm was nothing, but he understood the complaining that began pouring out of his boyfriends’ mouths after a few minutes of the storm. Gavin especially was going to have an issue very quickly if they didn’t hurry; he always said that he was used to the high temperatures of the Summerset Isles and that Skyrim nearly sent him into shock the first time he felt how cold it could really get here.

They arrived in Windhelm in an hour, due to the storm and the caution they were taking from the previous dragon sighting. Michael was quick to take Gavin and Ray into Candlehearth Hall due to the fact that both of them were near hypothermic. Ryan quickly bee lined to the White Phial with Jack following after him. That left Geoff to go to the Temple of Talos, wanting to worship while he could publicly and also to ask about the dragons in greater detail.

“Oh yes, the dragons,” said the priestess Jora, “One of those attacked a watchtower in Whiterun not too long ago. Apparently, the Dragonborn has been found due to that attack. Dragon sightings and attacks have been cropping up all over Skyrim, my friend. I take it you have been on the road for quite a while, then?”

“You could say that,” Geoff replied before thanking her and leaving the temple to go join his youngest three boyfriends in Candlehearth Hall. They were all upstairs, sat around the fire; Ray and Gavin sat closer than Michael did. Michael was nursing a bottle of Black-Briar Mead, while Ray simple had water and Gavin was only trying to keep warm. Michael waved at Geoff when the other showed up and Geoff came to sit next to Michael.

“Where are Ryan and Jack?” Geoff asked, not really in the mood to drink for once. The whole ‘return of the dragons’ thing had him on edge.

“Probably still at the White Phial, or wherever Ryan dragged Jack off too. I don’t keep up with the tendings of magical Bretons when I’m trying to keep two elves from dying of hypothermia or frostbite, Geoff,” Michael said, before taking another swig of his drink.

“Ah. I see. And how are the two freezing cold Elves, then?” Geoff asked, eyebrows raised in a gesture of good natured fun.

“Much better. Much warmer,” Gavin called out from near the fire, Michael’s furs still wrapped around him. Ray had his head leaning on the other’s shoulder as he warmed up as well.

“Good. You two cool with staying in Windhelm for a few days then? The storm’s pretty heavy,” Geoff explained.

“I am absolutely fine with that if it means I don’t have to go out in the snow, Geoff,” Gavin replied; Ray nodded his head with Gavin.

“Alright then. Babies,” Geoff said with a chuckle.

“I already got rooms, Geoff,” Michael told him. Geoff gave a proud smile.

“Thanks, Michael. Remind me to repay you for that later,” he said and the two shared a gaze full of bedroom eyes.

“Can you two lust for each other when we’re not out in public, maybe?” Gavin whined, frowning at them from his place in front of the fire.

“Jealous.”

“Am not.”

Ryan and Jack arrived no less than three minutes later, just short of hearing Michael and Gavin have a brief argument about decency. Ryan looked undeniably have with a large sack full of what Geoff had to guess were potions. They both came to sit on a couch near the fire.

“Ryan has discovered a talent for alchemy, Geoff,” Jack said, gently elbowing Ryan in the side.

“I discovered I could get money out of it, Jack,” Ryan replied, returning the elbow to the side.

“You two are absolute dorks,” Geoff said, watching them from the floor. “So I need to tell you guys what I found out today while I was at the temple; we’re all here now.”

“What is it?” Ray asked, not moving from the warmth that was Gavin’s side.

“We most definitely saw a dragon, guys. The priestess said there having been sightings and attacks and the reemergence of the Dragonborn lately,” Geoff explained, which had all five of his boyfriends staring at him.

“Well how the hell did the dragons come back?” Michael asked, a slight whine to his voice.

“Do I look like Julianos or Akatosh, Michael? Hell if I know, all I know is that they’re there and we need to be more careful,” Geoff replied, moving to lean against the couch where he was between Jack and Ryan’s legs. “It certainly changes things up.”

“It makes things more dangerous for everyone,” Ryan piped up, leaning against the armrest of the couch.

“Yeah, it does,” Geoff replied.

After that little exchange, they all went to bed; Michael, Ray, and Gavin to one room and Geoff, Ryan and Jack to the other. They all went to bed relatively earlier to avoid thinking about the dragons, but it couldn’t be denied the very thought rested in the back of everyone’s minds. The only thought that was there was “How will this change things”, a question to which no one had an answer.


	3. Unbound

They had gone to Morthal due to the great expanse of alchemical ingredients it offered Ryan; deathbells, swamp pods, and giant lichens were all up for the taking. On top of that, Morthal offered Ray and Gavin the chance to not freeze to death. Jack had mentioned an interest in the swamps surrounding the town.

That’s not what had Geoff and Michael so interested that they didn’t go to sleep for the evening, however; it appeared that there was a vampire nest in a cave nearby the town that needed to be taken out, and no one in the town other than a man named Thonnir was even willing to go into the lair.

Of course, however, Ryan had a counter-argument for going into the place. “What if someone gets bitten by a vampire? I don’t have the ingredients to make a cure disease potion. What are we gonna do then, Geoff?” Ryan had reasoned, following the man around his room of the inn as he gathered up a few things.

“What do you need to make a cure disease potion, anyway?” Geoff asked, glancing over his shoulder as he fixed his warhammer to his back.

Ryan groaned in a frustrated manner, giving Geoff a look that just absolutely begged him not to go into the vampire nest. “You could need any number of things. Vampire’s dust, hawk feathers, mudcrab chitin, a charred skeever hide. Things I am pretty sure we don’t have,” Ryan replied, crossing arms with a frown.

“Go to the alchemy shop here; I’m sure they have mudcrab chitin and vampire dust. And if they don’t, Sanguinare Vampiris takes three days to set in, and there are mudcrabs everywhere in this swamp, and we can get the dust off the dead vampires, Ryan. Relax; no one is going to turn into a vampire on my watch, alright?” Geoff stated, tossing a pouch of coins to Ryan. “You might want to get several cure disease potions, just in case, though.”

“Did you, Geoffrey Ramsey, just agree with me indirectly?” Ryan asked smugly, only to be lightly smacked in the face with a steel gauntlet. “I get the message; I’m going, I’m going.”

Ryan left in a flurry of mage robes fluttering behind him only to have Michael appear at Geoff’s door. “Ray and Gavin said they wanted to sit this one out, Geoff; you know how they are about vampires. It’s like you with skeevers and me with spiders,” Michael said, already wearing his furs. “Jack and I are ready to go whenever. Where’s Rye-Bread?”

“He’s being a worry-wort in a way that might just restart Morthal’s economy. He’s gone to get his hands on everything that can cure a disease in case one of us gets bitten,” Geoff said.

“Smart.”

“Over dramatic.”

“Are you trying to tell me you aren’t ever so slightly worried about this? Because I don’t believe the words that haven’t even come out of your mouth, Geoff,” Michael said, leaning in the doorway. The boys were the only 6 customers in the inn and the innkeeper wasn’t paying them much mind anyhow.

“I’m sure we can handle it. We’ve taken on bandits in larger numbers in more confusing cave systems before,” Geoff replied.

“Bandits and vampires are on whole different levels from each other, Geoff. You’re allowed to admit you’re worried, you know,” Michael retorted.

Geoff fixed his warhammer self-consciously. “I’m not worried. I know we can handle it just fine, Michael. I just have this off feeling in my gut,” Geoff said.

“Does your gut tell you that your Imperial boyfriend is going to be too tired to actually stand up if we don’t get a move on?” Jack said, coming to stand behind Michael, fitting steel-plate armor on, shield resting on his arm and his sword in its sheath.

Michael made a face before pushing back from the doorway by squeezing under Jack’s arm. “Are we going to wait for Ryan or not?” Michael asked from behind Jack; He had squeezed past because he hated to have people stand behind him in doorways.

“I mean, we should because Ryan is the one who knows how to do Restoration magic and will have cure disease potions on him, but if we wait we probably won’t leave until well into the night and I for one do not want to travel this swamp, even a short distance, during the night,” Geoff said, thinking their plan of action out vocally.

Jack nodded in the doorway. “I’d rather be asleep and healing than fighting vampires at night,” He said.

It was then agreed that they’d set out right then, politely declining the help of Thonnir. The actual fighting wasn’t bad; Vampires weren’t that hard to kill. It was the vampiric drain spell they used that made things difficult. The only tough enemy they faced was Movarth, which was who they spent 90% of the time they spent in there trying to kill.

When it was all said and done, they exited the cave to see Ryan standing near the entrance, eyes widening when he saw them. They walked over at his beckoning, although Jack was a little slower to walk over.

“Jack has it,” Ryan said upon a quick scan of the three of them. “Aren’t you glad I made a very compelling argument to the shopkeeper for this to be cheap?”

Geoff and Michael shared a look before asking, both at the same time, how Ryan could tell while Jack just gratefully took the potion without question.

“Call it Bretons’ intuition. Also; Jack’s fighting style plus to chance of contracting the disease plus the amount of vampires you three came into contact with puts him at the greatest risk. Ah, but that’s why I made three bottles. Drink up, why don’t you?” Ryan stated, handing Geoff and Michael their own bottles.

“You want to head back into Morthal now before a troll tries to make dinner out of us or something?” Michael asked, eyeing a troll that was walking at them somewhat distantly, but Michael wasn’t about to go risking with chance.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Jack replied, Ryan already scurrying his happy ass out of there. Mage or no mage, Ryan did not like having to deal with trolls, even if it meant getting troll fat. The three fighters followed after him; Michael and Geoff chugging down the disgusting concoction made to keep them from turning into bloodthirsty creatures of the night.

Geoff, Jack, and Michael arrived to have one of the Jarl’s guards tell them she wished to see them personally. They arrived in Highmoon Hall to see a Jarl who looked like she had only recently been woken up but was ready to proceed with the doings of the court.

“It has been brought to my attention that you three cleared a vampires’ nest that was near my town and for that I think you,” she said, “To show how gracious I am for you three doing this, I offer you each 800 septims and the position of Thane of Hjaalmarch. There’s a plot of land that I’d be willing to sell to a Thane nearby, if that sweetens the deal any.”

Geoff, Jack, and Michael all gave their thanks, but said they simply had to pass on the land. “We’re nomadic mercenaries,” Geoff explained. “Homes aren’t really our forte.”

She had accepted the explanation as easy as one could and sent them off to go as they pleased, which happened to be go back to the inn where Gavin, Ray, and Ryan were probably eagerly awaiting them.

“She named us Thane!” was the first thing out of Michael’s mouth, but “Where are we going next?” was the first thing out of Ryan’s. The older man clearly was not a fan of Morthal at the moment after the brief and barely scary run in with the disease of vampirism.

“I want to go to Whiterun and see about all this Dragonborn business, I think. I’m sorry, I just don’t get dropped into a world where suddenly Alduin is making a return with no sense of warning,” Geoff said, and the others agreed with him.

“Maybe we’ll see Lindsay there!” Michael said excitedly.

“Maybe. I say we all get some rest before heading out through the swamp tomorrow?” Geoff asked, only to receive silent nods in return. “Alright, then I shall see you all in the morning, hopefully ready to go.” Geoff gave a pointed stare to Gavin. Gavin only threw up his hands in his defense.


	4. Dragonborn

The trip from Morthal to Whiterun was a long one; Ryan stopping to pick ingredients he claimed he needed, Gavin and Ray constantly complaining about being cold, and then the unrelenting whining when Michael refused to let them have his furs. What should have been a six and a half hour long trip ended up taking nearly three hours longer. They took what Geoff considered to be the shorter path; turning east when they left Morthal and going rock climbing around the ancient city of Morthal. Unsurprisingly, Gavin hurt his ankle on the way down and Michael ended up having to carry the high elf down until the group reached the road. It was still a long way to walk to the plains of Whiterun, so Michael simply supported Gavin’s footing.

They stopped at a pond because Michael and Gavin both needed to rest; supporting a gangly limbed high elf and being supported by an adorably muscular Nord was very tough work. Ryan grinned when he noticed that there were a great amount of mudcrabs in the pond they were sat at; he curled his fingers as Fire burst in his hand before tossing it into a group of 4 mudcrabs. The rune he had placed did a very good job of killing off the creatures and Ryan dropped off the small ledge to go collect his prize of mudcrab legs and mudcrab chitin.

“You giant, magical dork,” Jack called out while Michael and Gavin rested on the ground. Ray was sitting a bit away from them, eyes squinted in the sunlight.

“Mudcrab chitin is always valuable, Jack. Always. For example, if you were going to make a potion to get stamina, mudcrab chitin should be a go to ingredient for it,” Ryan said, bagging his alchemical ingredients and tossing the food to Geoff who was eagerly awaiting it.

Ryan shook his hand to dispel any leftover magical charges running through him and tied the bag of chitin to the rope around his robe. He had several bags hanging off this rope, all full of ingredients of various types and quantities. That was the interesting part about dating an alchemist; they always had bags of ingredients hanging off their person. Ryan undoubtedly had less ingredients than most alchemist would have carried, but considering they were a nomadic group with no permanent home yet, he didn’t necessarily have a choice.

After maybe an hour of resting, Michael hoisted Gavin off the ground, which lead to Gavin whining, which then lead to Michael just carrying him to prevent that from happening. From where they were, they only had another hour of walking, but they already should have gotten there. It was all the mountain climbing that had set them back; Ray was agile enough that he was waiting at the bottom for them for an hour, but the rest of them couldn’t exactly leap around, not to mention Michael had to carry Gavin down.

“We’re going to have to stop by a temple to get that ankle of yours fixed,” Michael said to the high elf whose head was resting against his shoulder.

Gavin groaned and his ears shifted against Michael’s neck, which had the nord rather confused because Gavin hadn’t actually moved his head.

“What was that?” Michael asked, letting go of one of Gavin’s thighs to rub at his neck, only to feel the ear move against his hand. “Are your ears…moving?”

“They do that, yeah,” Gavin said tiredly without really thinking about it, only to be jerked back into the land of the wide awake when Michael roughly bounced him while he was readjusting his grip. Gavin squawked at the movement, causing Michael to chuckle.

“Your ears wiggle? Is that like an elf thing?” Geoff asked, now walking next to the two, mindlessly eating an apple. Ray came running past them shrieking not a second later.

“It’s an elf thing and it tickles and Jack won’t stop it!” He yelled, taking off towards Whiterun with Jack following after him not a second later.

“It tickles?” Michael asked as Ryan ran past them as well, going after Jack and Ray.

“Don’t you dare get any ideas, Michael,” Gain grumbled into his shoulder.

“How have I never noticed that your ears move before?” Geoff asked, casually reaching over and brushing his fingers against Gavin’s ears as they walked, which caused the high elf to jolt and fling himself off Michael back with a screech.

“Geoff!” Gavin whined while Michael snickered because the dumbass was now lying on the ground. Michael just calmly lifted him back up, knowing Gavin was going to whine if Michael tried to make him walk. Gavin now simply covered his ears.

They came to the gates of the city no less than fifteen minutes later, Gavin still protecting his ears, to see Ray batting Jack and Ryan away from his own ears.

“Guys, stop it!” Ray complained, which lead to Ryan rolling his eyes and tickling the back of his ear once more.

“Okay, knock it off,” Geoff stated, giving Jack and Ryan a look. The two stopped messing with Ray’s ears almost immediately, much to the wood elf’s relief. Geoff went to go talk to the city guard about letting them in, being told that they had closed the city due to the dragons and then simply bribing the guard with a hefty sum of money to let them in.

Michael was very quick to carry Gavin to the Temple of Kynareth to get his ankle healed. It had in all honesty been a pretty bad sprain, especially for someone as gangly as the high elf, and given that it was starting to bruise slightly, a healer was the best way to go about dealing with it. Ray and Jack both got dragged off by Geoff who just wanted to bask in Jorrvaskr for two hours, while Ryan went off on his own to do a bit of ingredient shopping.

After Michael had dropped Gavin off at the temple, he had headed off to the Bannered Mare. He ordered a mead before looking around at the patrons to see an extremely familiar red-headed girl.

“Lindsay?” Michael asked hesitantly, not entirely sure. After all, Michael hadn’t seen Lindsay since they were teenagers both setting out on their own adventures out of Ivarstead. He almost smiled with relief when his eyes were met with a look of familiarity.

“Michael!” Lindsay said, launching out of the care she had been sitting in to hug him, nearly knocking them over in the process. No one seemed to pay them any mind, too caught up discussing the recent dragon attack and the talk of Dragonborn.

“How long has it been since we last saw each other, huh?” Lindsay asked, a smile crossing her face. “Ten years?”

“Probably,” Michael said, returning the smile as the two of them sat down to have a long, reconnecting chat about everything that happened to them for the past ten years.

“Wait, so you were here when the dragon attacked? Oooh, what was that like?” Michael asked, excitement resting in his voice.

“Terrifying. Lots of screaming. Caleb ran away and we had to get him a new lute,” Lindsay said with a chuckle. \

Lindsay had gotten herself a group of people, including herself, a Dark Elf named Kdin who had mastered destruction magic at a very young age, and an Imperial bard named Caleb who, according to Lindsay, was the biggest chicken on the planet.

“So what’s up with the Dragonborn business, then?” Michael asked, tilting his head.

“Funny story about that,” Lindsay said through a chuckle. “Turns out, I’m the Dragonborn.”

Michael about froze in his seat, just staring at her. His jaw had actually dropped and his eyes were wide and unblinking. At least up until Lindsay clapped in his face and it snapped Michael out of it.

“You’re the Dragonborn? How the hell did you find out?” Michael asked, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees as he processed the information that his childhood best friend was the Dragonborn.

“When we killed the dragon here, I absorbed its soul, or something. I’m not really sure. I’m supposed to go to the greybeards to find out, actually. Caleb, Kdin, and I had made plans to leave tomorrow morning for Ivarstead, actually. You wanna come with us, Michael?” Lindsay asked, seeing his excited face.

“And go see High Hrothgar? Hell yes I do—it’s just, I’ve got my own group of 5 other guys. You wouldn’t mind that they came with?” Michael replied, sitting up ever so slightly worried that she would say she minded.

Lindsay gave him a wide smile, “Why would I mind that they came along?”

Michael shrugged and shared a smile with her. “Well then, I’ll have to tell them we’re leaving tomorrow morning. I’ll see you then,” Michael said, standing up only to be hugged by Lindsay once more. He smiled and hugged her back before leaving.

He found all five of them rounded up in front of Jorrvaskr with Geoff telling them all about the Companions. He smiled, before walking up to his boyfriend whho had only managed to capture the attention of the other warrior, Jack.

“We’re going to Ivarstead tomorrow!” exclaimed Michael, all eyes on him suddenly. “I met Lindsay, long story short she’s the Dragonborn and she has to go to High Hrothgar and we are going with her.”

Geoff raised his eye brows but looked excited. “You were busy inside the Bannered Mare, it sounds like,” he said

Michael nodded. “Yeah, so, you know, prepare,” said Michael. “We’re definitely leaving in the morning.”


	5. Seven Thousand Steps

They all left Whiterun early enough to catch the sun rising. Between them, there were nine people trying to travel on what becomes a very narrow road when you have a group that large. They were headed straight for Ivarstead; they didn’t plan on stopping other than the one time they had to kill a whole bunch of bandits. The travel was pleasant enough, especially for Michael and Lindsay who spent the entire time talking, to the amusement of some and the annoyance of only a handful.

“Wait, so elf ears wiggle? Hey Kdin—“ Lindsay had said, grinning happily and trying to get the dark elf to walk over so she could tickle his ears. She just wanted to see what would happen.

“No!” Kdin yelled, tugging his hood up over his ears and very protectively holding it shut. Lindsay just grumbled about him being a fun stopper.

The conversations were small like that. At one point, Michael and Lindsay started talking about how excited they were to see High Hrothgar and Geoff joined in with them and then all three Nords were giddy with a sudden delight amongst themselves. Caleb spent the entire time trying to convince everyone to sing, which Gavin was happy to do right up to the point that Michael elbowed him as hard as possible.

Every so often, Ryan would stop for a quick second to pick at a flower he was running low on, like thistle, which were cropping up every so often. He and Kdin ended up starting a very detailed discussion about Destruction magic which pretty much left everyone else in the dust about what they were talking about.

Ray and Jack were happily staying quiet at the very back, busying themselves with other things. Ray, for example, was counting out his arrows and making sure his bows was in top shape to use which Jack simply admired the nature they passed.

“The Greybeards live their entire lives in silence, Lindsay! How the hell are you going to cope?” Michael had asked, a chuckle in his voice as he spoke. Lindsay smiled and shrugged.

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll step on someone’s toe just to get a sound,” she replied jokingly and Michael and she shared a laugh.

They arrived in Ivarstead quickly it seemed, but the sun setting told a different story. Michael and Lindsay were eager to get going up the 7000 steps but Geoff convinced them to wait it out until the morning and so the giant group of nine rested in the inn.

Geoff and Michael would be the only ones joining Lindsay’s group on the way up the stairs. Gavin and Ray had complained that it would be too cold, Jack had mentioned something about helping Ryan out with ingredient collecting, and Ryan just plain wouldn’t wake up. Lindsay, on the other hand, was not going to let Kdin and Caleb sit this out, no matter how much they protested walking up that many stairs.

“This is important,” she had argued, dragging both Caleb and Kdin out to the base of the stairs that morning where Geoff and Michael were waiting.

“It’s important for you! You’re the Dragonborn, what does walking up a bunch of old stairs have to do with me?” Kdin complained, yelping when Lindsay stomped on his foot.

“It means a lot of things. Plus I’ll put money on their being a frost troll up there for you to test out that new fire spell of yours,” Lindsay replied.

“…Fine.”

“Well why do I have to be here! I’m a bard, Lindsay, what’s the point of me going up there?” Caleb complained.

“To annoy Kdin.”

“Alright fine, I’m in.”

They’d set off after that, although Kdin and Caleb were more than a little bit behind the three Nords eagerly reading the ancient etched tablets and telling stories about High Hrothgar.

“You know, I’ve been all the way to High Hrothgar, once,” Geoff said maybe halfway up the mountain. “It’s everything that every tale says it is, truly. There’s some weird kind of power in the wind up there.”

“You’ve been to High Hrothgar and never told me?” Michael complained, crossing his arms as they walked to the next ancient etching.

“Never really came up,” Geoff replied non-chalantly.

Lindsay was looking past the two of them to Kdin and Caleb, who were slowly catching up to them. From where she was, she could see Caleb strumming his lute and Kdin slowly taking in the possibility of bashing Caleb of the head with said lute.

“You think we should wait up for them?” Lindsay asked as they sat in front of the etching, knowing they’d be moving on to the next one before Kdin and Caleb reached their current one.

“Nah, they’ll be fine bickering back where they are,” Michael replied, a giddy smile on his face. “I think this is the farthest we’ve ever gotten up the 7000 steps, Lindsay.”

“Of course it is. When we were kids our parents never let us go past the third etching and by the time they would let us go past it, we were starting off on our own adventures,” Lindsay replied.

“It’s exciting,” Michael said, Lindsay nodding her head as they moved on.

At some point along the way, they did in fact encounter that Frost troll Lindsay had promised Kdin and Kdin was quick to dispatch it with a new spell of his that he called Flame Cloak. None of the Nords were really paying much attention to him, all sort of rushing to High Hrothgar.

They were stood at the steps all gaping at the place a little while later. Michael looked like a kid in a candy store, Lindsay looked like a kid on Christmas, and Geoff was simply basking in the place. Geoff was right; there was a certain power in the wind here.

“This is High Hrothgar? I’d expect it to be more…lavish,” Kdin said, dragging Cleb with him as he stood next to Lindsay.

“The Greybeards aren’t exactly lavish,” Geoff explained.

Lindsay, Kdin, and Caleb all had to head inside after that, seeing as how they were pretty sure Caleb was about to get frostbite, but Michael and Geoff just kind of stood looking at High Hrothgar a bit longer.

“You’re right. Everything that’s said about it is true, Geoff.”


	6. Death in the Darkness

The walk from Ivarstead to Windhelm hadn’t actually been that bad. Not a single bandit roaming the hills, just a few saber cats and Ryan stopping every so often to pick some ingredients. They arrived with barely even a fuss from the wilderness, which was a pleasant break from how it was to normally walk through Skyrim.

Arriving in Windhelm was a different story in itself. The entire town just felt off and everyone seemed to be at least slightly paranoid about something. No one but Jack was really worried about it; even Geoff and Michael said it was just a bunch of Nords worried about Talos.

That was how Jack ended up wandering around the city while his boys stayed at the inn. Jack knew Michael and Geoff were probably going to go worship at the shrine of Talos in the city later while Ray and Gavin stayed bundled up by a fire. Maybe Ryan would join him later; the Breton always said something about how the city of Windhelm held a kind of magic.

Jack had been wandering for a good bit of time when he came upon the city’s cemetery. If he was being honest, he was probably lost; there were so many twists and turns in Windhelm it wasn’t that hard to see how. He was thrown for a loop when he saw a group of people gathered around a body. They weren’t wearing mourner’s clothes so Jack assumed they weren’t mourning, of course. He asked a nearby guard what was happening.

“Another girl’s been murdered. Horrible really. With the war, we don’t have enough guards around to protect anyone,” The guard told Jack, who had an idea dawn on him.

“I’d be willing to help with the investigations,” Jack offered kindly, turning his head to look at what he now knew to be a body people were crowded around.

“Great, then could you do me a favor and ask those three what they saw?” the guard said, pointing towards the small crowd.

Jack nodded before walking over to the small crowd. He frowned at the body; she looked so young, around probably Gavin’s age. No one could blame jack for the sad look that overcame his face almost immediately before he decided to do the job he had been asked to do. He started with the person nearest him, a beggar who he had seen when he had first entered Windhelm.

“Um, excuse me? Ma’am, do you know anything about what happened here?” Jack asked gently, tapping the woman on the shoulder.

“No, no. I heard a scream and came running but she was already…like this…when I got here,” the woman said, frowning at the body. Jack simply moved on to the next person, an old woman who was examining the body.

“Ma’am, did you see anything?” Jack asked, watching the woman carefully.

“Eehhh… no. Sorry. But I did notice that her coin purse was still intact, so whoever did this wasn’t after gold. I’m going to keep preparing the body, if you’ll excuse me,” She said, quickly brushing Jack off. Jack shrugged before moving onto the last witness who was a man standing a bit back from the rest of the gathering.

“Sir, excuse me, but did you see anything when this woman was murdered?” Jack asked, getting discouraged by the lack of any information about a murder in a city as big as Windhelm.

“No, but I saw a fellow running away, but didn’t get a good look at him,” he responded, arms crossed as he looked at the body. Jack sighed and nodded his head before he headed back over to the guard.

“No one knows anything about what happened here. What else can I do to help?” Jack asked the guard, who didn’t look surprised in the slightest.

“Well, if you think you can do better than the legion of guards, be my guest. You’ll need to talk to Jorleif, the Jarl’s steward, though. We can’t just let anyone go around claiming to be on official business. If he’s willing, then we’ll talk,” the guard told Jack, who resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He forgot how stuck to the rules Nords could be.

“Alright, I’ll be back soon, then,” Jack replied, heading off to the Palace of the Kings, or at least he believed that’s what the Jarl’s castle was called in Windhelm. He stopped to ask a guard where he could find Jorleif only to be told that the castle’s steward should be on break. ‘Probably lounging around somewhere’ was what he was told, specifically.

They hadn’t been wrong. Jorleif was sat at the large dining table at the entrance of the Palace of Kings, which made it easier for Jack to find him. It was how he was going to word ‘I’d like to singlehandedly investigate these murders’ that was throwing Jack off.

“Excuse me, are you Jorleif?” Jack asked. He wanted to be sure, after all.

“Indeed I am,” replied Jorleif, looking up from his mug.

“I’m here to offer to help with the investigations of the murders,” Jack said quickly.

“Has there been another one?”

“Yes sir.”

“These are difficult times indeed, when men stalk their brethren like beasts. My men are stretched thin as it is. If you offer your aid, I gladly accept. The guards will be told to assist you as necessary. I’m happy to lend a hand as much as I can, as well.”

Jack nodded with a quiet thank you before taking his leave of the place. After all, the quicker he was figuring out these murders, the quicker Windhelm would be a safe city. It didn’t take that long to get back to the crime scene; Jack luckily didn’t get lost this time. The crowd had dispersed by now and the body was gone, but the guard stayed there all the same.

“Did you get permission from Jorleif to help out on these murders, then?” asked the guard. Jack nodded easily. “Well, Helgird’s taken the body into the Hall of the Dead to prepare her for burial, but I’ve notice a trail of blood leading up those stairs if you want to check that out, then.”

Jack gave a short smile before heading straight into the Hall of the Dead. If Helgird was preparing the body, Helgird must have known something about bodies. Jack could use all the information he could get, and since the Hall of the Dead was the closer option, it just made sense to start there.

Helgird turned out to be the old lady from before. She seemed almost puzzled by the body but immediately looked up when Jack walked into the room.

“I was wondering if you saw anything unusual with the body?” Jack asked, walking over to where the body was being prepared with a small grimace.

“Well, she’s dead. But I guess that’s not unusual, at least not for somebody in here. I mean, someone who’s not me, that is. Sorry, was only joking with you,” she responded; Jack gave her a small smile before attempting to turn her attention back to his question.

“Did you find anything though?” he asked.

“Not really. The only unusual thing is the shape of the cuts. They look like they were made with… well, the ancient Nords used these kinds of curved blades when they embalmed their dead. I don’t know who in Windhelm would even have something like that. Other than me, of course,” Helgrid answered. Jack raised an eyebrow before taking a look at the body being prepared to see what she was talking about.

“Well, will you keep me posted if you find anything?”

“I wouldn’t hold out too much hope. Now, I really got to get back to the body. Lot of work to prepare her for the grave.”

Jack sighed at the only small help that visiting Helgird was before making a quick exit of the Hall of the Dead. He had never been comfortable being in those old tombs, after all. Now, he turned his attention to the blood trail the guard had noticed and followed it. The trail led him right to the front door of a home that there was no way he would be able to open. Unlike a few of his other boyfriends, he was rather averse to breaking the law.

He took the alternate route of asking the nearest guard about the home. He was told it belonged to Friga Shatter-Shield and had been abandoned since she had died. Then he was told to go find her mother to get a key to the house, but seeing as it was now late at night, he thought it a better idea to go back to the inn and wait until morning.

Of course, when he got to the inn, his boyfriends were all waiting for him. Asking where he had been, what he had been up to, why hadn’t they been invited. Jack answered all the questions with a simple ‘I’m helping solve a murder’ which led to wide eyes.

“We heard there was some kind of serial killer running around, but how did you get wrapped up in it?” Geoff said, waving his hand in the air to say that they were in an inn and news travelled fast there.

“I kind of passed by a recent body and offered to help the guard there,” Jack said. Geoff simply nodded and with that, Jack waved them all a good night. This was late for him, even if it wasn’t necessarily for any of them.

The next morning led Jack to the market, talking to Tova Shatter-Shield and trying to convince her to give him the key to Hjerim, as he had learned the name of the house last night.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I have some questions about your daughter?” Jack started, frowning about how awkward this situation was for everyone involved.

“I’m sorry – she was very dear to me, and it’s rather painful to think about,” came the answer. Jack’s conscience begged him to leave her alone, but finding the killer was just as important as her grief.

“I’m trying to find out who did this. I was hoping you’d help.”

“Well… all right. What exactly do you need to know?”

“I need the key to Hjerim.”

“Hjerim? Well, I’m not sure what you think you’ll find there, but you’re welcome to have a look.”

Jack thanked her before quickly heading away from that situation. He was at Hjerim fast enough, unlocking the door slowly in case the killer lay inside. Instead, what he saw was the blood trail leading over to a chest. He checked it out, discovering pamphets and a journal, which he took the liberty of reading.

“The plans are coming together swimmingly. I’ve found good sources of bone, flesh, and blood, but thus far a good sampling of sinew and marrow have escaped me. No matter. The city is swollen with contemptuous fools who will be missed by nobody. Last night was almost able to corner Susanna as she left Candlehearth. Idiot guard showed up at just the wrong moment and I had to turn about, just out for a stroll, and so forth…Something deeper than the cantripped shenanigans of fire and light…I am tugging at the corners of the fabric of the universe, and where it bunches and folds is where I shall create my greatest triumph. One more attempt at the Candlehearth girl. She’s proving to be a bit too cautious, but those strong joints of hers should contain the most exquisite tendons. Worth the effort. Tonight,” Jack read aloud, skimming over the passages as his face twisted up in disgust at the writings. He never understood how someone could be so cruel and yet here was evidence clear as day. Still, Jack kept searching for more clues as to the killer.

His search led him to find a false back in a wardrobe, which lead to a room filled with blood and bones and embalming tools. Jack felt a shudder run up his spine as he took a look around. Another journal lay on the altar of the room and Jack was maybe a little hesitant to read it but he knew he had to anyway.

“17 tendons and assorted ligaments 173 fragments of bone for assemblage approx…4 bucket-fulls of blood (Nord preferred)…6 spoons of marrow…No, I am not reading this it’s gross. No,” Jack said, slamming the book shut but taking it with him all the same. He closed the panel as he left the room, nose scrunched up in disgust.

He took another check of the room, picking up one of the ‘Beware the Butcher!’ pamphlets and also a strange looking amulet he found before leaving Hjerim with his face twisted up in nausea. His first order of business was to take the evidence to Jorleif.

“Well, it’s puzzling,” said Jorleif, who was now holding the amulet. “Perhaps you should take it to Calixto; he would probably know something about it. As for the pamphlet, try Viola. She’s the one who made those.”

Jack nodded, though another shudder ran through him as he thought about the room he had seen. He decided to go see Calixto first; maybe learning about the amulet would be helpful.

“Ah! That’s a Wheelstone. Court mages usually carry those. I’d be willing to take it off your hands for 500 gold,” said Calixto with an easy smile. Jack sighed but gladly accepted the offer; gold was gold and these days you could never have too much in your coin purse.

Jack had to hunt down Viola after that. He found her in the market, trying to warm herself and Jack didn’t honestly think she was one of the most reliable looking people in the world. His resources were limited, however, and he needed to know more about this ‘Butcher’.

“I’ve been following him for months now. Well, not actually following. Trying to find him. The guards won’t help. The people won’t help. I’m the only one who thinks he can be caught.”

“Why do you think no one will help?”

“Oh, they care all right. Just none of them thinks to do anything about it. They say I’m just snooping around bothering people, but I’m trying to save lives!”

“Well then, why won’t the guards help?”

“They say they’re too busy with the war – I say what good is winning a war if we’re still terrorized by one of our own?”

“Well I found one of your flyers in Hjerim…”

“I’ve been trying to put those up around the city, to warn people. Have them keep their eyes open. But someone keeps taking them down.”

“Well I found these journals in the house, as well. It sounds like someone’s been experimenting, by their contents at least.”

“Wuunferth. There have been rumors swirling about him for years. As long as I can remember. But he’s a dangerous man. It’s why they call him “the Unliving.” I wouldn’t approach him directly. This information needs to go straight to the steward. He’ll listen to you.”

Jack scrunched his face once more after that conversation, feeling like maybe he should go talk to this ‘Wuunferth the Unliving’ himself just to be sure and heading off towards the palace. Once there, he asked where he could find the man and was directed to his quarters.

Jack knocked on the wall to get the attention of the court mage so that he could ask him some questions. The same awkwardness that he felt with Tova he felt now.

“I’ve been researching the murders here in Windhelm and I’ve been told that you dabble in Necromancy,” Jack said hesitantly.

“I beg your pardon? Necromancy? I am a member of the College of Winterhold, in good standing! They haven’t allowed necromancy for hundreds of years!” Wuunferth defended. Jack held up his hands as a universal show of surrender.

“Well, I believe I found your journals and amulet,” Jack said.

“My what, now? I’ve never kept a journal, I can assure you. What exactly did this amulet look like?”

“Well, it was round and appeared to have some sort of Jade carving.”

“I know it well. Or at least, I’ve heard of it. I would wager that carving once depicted a skull. That is the Necromancer’s Amulet, of legend. It appears you were at least half-right. There is necromancy at the heart of this.”

“Calixto told me it was a Wheelstone.”

“Eehh.. Calixto and his books are often confused about such matters. It happens to the best of us.”

“Well, then what do you suggest I do about this killer?”

“I’ve been noting a pattern to when the killings happen. Now that we know they’re tied in to some sort of necromantic ritual, I think I know when the next might occur. Let’s see. From a Loredas of Last Seed until a Middas of Heartfire… it will happen soon. Very soon. Keep watch in the Stone Quarter tonight. That’s almost certainly where the killer will strike next.”

Jack nodded his head before excusing himself and leaving the palace. It was nighttime by now and Jack’s first order of business was to head to the market.

As soon as he arrived, he saw Calixto sneaking up on a woman with a dagger in hand. Nearly immediately, Jack rushed him with his shield and was surprised when Calixto managed to put up a fight. Jack was better however and Calixto quickly tasted death at the end of Jack’s sword. The woman who would have died otherwise quickly thanked Jack and ran off.

Now, all Jack had to do was tell Jorleif that the criminal had been dealt with.

“Ysmir’s beard! The man was always a bit odd, but I wouldn’t have expected… You’ve done this city a mighty service, friend. I believe you’ll find the guards to be a bit more cordial with you in the future,” Jorleif said, shaking Jack’s hand and giving him a pat on the back for his service. Jack simply gave a tired smile, glad to have helped and glad to now be able to go to bed.

At the inn only a few minutes later, bed was not what the boys had in mind, but more getting drunk a celebrating. All, of course, except for Ray.


	7. Beneath the Ice

After Jack’s heroism in Windhelm, the group of six had taken off from there to explore northern Skyrim. They ended up close to Dawnstar, where Geoff spent his childhood, before they made camp for the night.

Ryan and Ray ended up in the same sleeping bag, which was a plus to Ray as the former had enough body heat to warm the latter throughout the cold, harsh night of northern Skyrim. Gavin ended up cocooned in a sleeping bag that was pulled close to Michael; the hardy Nord hopefully having enough body heat to get Gavin through the night without any problems. Jack and Geoff decided to keep look out, their shifts rotating throughout the night. Ryan, as usual, couldn’t sleep well, keeping whoever else was awake company throughout the night.

“Geoff?” Ryan whispered, cradling Ray a bit closer to him. It was only now that Ryan noticed how minutely Ray’s (and he assumed Gavin’s) ears twitched in his sleep. It was surprisingly cute, wrapping up the package that was the wood elf archer.

Geoff didn’t turn back to him when the question was asked which caused Ryan to want to say his name a bit louder. Before he could, however, Geoff chimed a ‘Hm?’, which prompted him to continue with his previous question. “Do you think that perhaps we could go to Winterhold any time soon? It’d be nice to practice magic there,” Ryan said.

Geoff did turn around this time to stare Ryan down. Even in the dark, Ryan could make out the expression of Geoff’s thought; lips pursed together and eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t know,” Geoff said, “We’d need to get enough money to stay at an inn, because Ray and Gavin can’t stay camped outside as long as we can out there. The only reason we’re even outside is that there’s no town nearby. I mean, I can consider it when we have the means to do so, but right now we can’t. Sorry, Ryan.”

Ryan nodded, having almost expected that to be the answer. He settled back in the sleeping bag, pulling Ray closer still when he felt the younger shiver in his sleep. Geoff turned back to keeping watch, which left Ryan without conversation and without sleep. He passed the time by stargazing silently, picking out the constellations that held the most magical charm and mapping them out with his eyes. He did this for the hours it took for him to fall asleep, going through one shift change between Jack and Geoff.

He woke up to someone kissing his forehead, and when he did finally open his eyes he saw it was Michael. “We didn’t want to get you up,” he said. “You looked so peaceful, and you haven’t sleep well recently, but we caught breakfast and thought you might want some.”

Ryan only rolled over in the sleeping bag made for two so that he could stretch before sitting up. He responded with “Breakfast sounds good. What did you catch?”

“Well, I caught some mudcrab, and Jack got two deer. It’s like a feast fit for a hunter this morning, Ryan!” Michael exclaimed excitedly, standing up from where he was hunched over the other.

“Anything interesting happen while you two were out catching breakfast?” Ryan asked, standing up from the sleeping bag to the crisp morning of northern Skyrim. Gavin and Ray were both curled up near the fire that was busy cooking breakfast and Ryan was almost tempted to join them. Mage’s robes did not keep out the cold.

“Yeah, actually. We found this overturned ship. Geoff said we could go check it out after we all eat; it’s not like we have anything else to do,” Michael said, dragging Ryan over to join everyone else by the fire.

Ryan let out a relieved sigh when he was close enough to the fire to warm up. He sat next to Geoff after Jack gave him something to eat and ate in total silence. Geoff ended up leaning against him at some point during the meal, but Ryan made him sit up before he started snoring. It was always hard for everyone to stay awake during those cool mornings in Skyrim.

After breakfast, the boys headed off to check the wreckage Michael and Jack had found, but this time they found it crawling with bandits. Geoff’s smile almost immediately dropped at the sight.

“I think we should go back and pretend we never saw the ship, guys,” he said, a completely serious tone to his voice. Geoff didn’t usually want to back out from anything that could get them a little extra septims, so this was a surprise.

“Pussying out because there are a few bandits wandering the ship, Geoff?” Ray asked, chuckling to himself.

“Those aren’t just bandits,” Geoff explained. “They’re Blackblood Marauders. If there are a few here, there will be more elsewhere. We need to get away from here.”

“There could be cash on that ship, though,” Ryan said. “Cash for spells, supplies, armor…Geoff; do you really want to pass that up because you think we can’t handle a few bandits?”

“I’d rather be alive than be rich.”

“Geoff it’s a few bandits versus six mercenaries. We do this for a living.”

Geoff sighed before relenting. “Fine,” he said, leaning against the log they had been hiding behind. “Just…Be careful about how you go about it? Alright?”

The guys shared a grin before readying their weapons. Ryan’s hands lit aflame and Jack pulled his sword from its sheathe. Gavin pulled out his dagger which was infinitesimal compared to Michael’s great sword which was being pulled off his back. Ray simply had bow and arrow at the ready while Geoff hesitantly lifted his warhammer from his back.

Fighting the Marauders proved to be more difficult than expected, and they were lucky Ryan didn’t burn down the whole ship. Swords would have to be cleaned and arrows bought before their next mercenary adventure, but for all the things they found on the ship, it was only kind of worth it.

A woman argonian lay dead at their feet and Ray was checking her pockets for anything of value. He found a letter and handed it to Geoff, who read it and crumpled it up almost immediately.

“They moved the treasure the ship was carrying,” Geoff explained, not surprised at all if the tone of his voice was anything to go on.

“Are we…going to go after it?” Ray asked, his voice sounding almost excited in nature.

Geoff shook his head. “No, I’m definitely drawing a line there. These few bandits took enough of our power as is. No need to waste any more of money we can easily earn through bounties.”

“So then, what now?” Jack asked dejectedly.

“Well, there is an alchemy project I wanted to try out. I need taproot for it. Already have the dwarven oil,” Ryan said. “We should go to Shadowgreen.”

“When did you get dwarven oil?”

“Last time we went to the city.”

“Oh. So, Shadowgreen it is?” Jack asked, looking towards Geoff.

“To Shadowgreen, fast as dicks.”


	8. Shadows and Echoes

The trip to Shadowgreen Cavern was fairly easy, the only real obstacles being wolves and Ryan wanting to stop to collect other ingredients. They managed to arrive unscathed, having discussed the plan on the way over.

“So just so we’re clear, Ryan, Jack, and Geoff are going to go inside and Ray, Gavin, and I are just going to wait outside?” Michael asked, sword swinging against his back as he walked.

“Yeah. Take a nap or something, we’ll be in there for a while,” Geoff replied.

Michael rolled his eyes as the three Gents headed inside the cave. Of course they left him outside to deal with the two elves who can’t handle cold temperatures. Fresh snow was on the ground and as soon as the Gents were out of earshot, Gavin started complaining.

“Michael, it’s freezing out here! Why did we have to come? They said we could wait in Solitude and then we’d be in a warm inn!” Gavin whined.

“Because Solitude is Empire stuff and Geoff and I both have necklaces of Talos and I really didn’t feel like getting caught,” he replied.

“But we can visit Solitude again, right?” asked Ray.

“Why?”

“It reminded me of Valenwood. All the buildings are so tall they look sort of like the trees there. It’s nice.”

“It’s Imperial. Of course it’s nice.”

“But we can go back?”

“I guess we could.”

The conversation shortly died off, the only noise between the three of them being Gavin complaining. Ray, for once, seemed fine with the weather, though he wasn’t going to lay in it exactly. Michael decided to take Geoff up on his idea to take a nap.

An hour into his nap, Michael felt something cold hit his arm and looked up to see that Ray and Gavin had made a pile of snowballs. They both had wide grins on their faces; wide enough that Ray’s sharper back teeth were visible. Michael sat up to survey the situation only to get pummel in the face with snow.

“Why?” he asked, wiping packed snow away from his face.

“Because it’s funny. We’d been throwing snowballs at you for fifteen minutes until you finally got up,” Ray explained.

Michael grinned slightly, packing the snow behind his back into a snowball. “Oh? Am I supposed to be laughing, then?”

“Maybe.”

That was when Michael decided to throw the snowball, hitting Gavin right on the nose. After all, Gavin had hit him on the face so it was only fair to get some revenge. The noise Gavin made was like an extra reward.

It was quiet for a second before Michael leaped up from where he had been laying down with another snowball in hand. This one flew at Ray and hit him on the chest. That is when the all-out snowball fight began.

Within the cavern, the Gents were running into every animal and spriggan imaginable. Ryan was getting a good stock of taproot, but also bear claws and bug parts. The spriggans themselves were the main issue; Geoff and Jack couldn’t get close without getting hurt. Luckily for them, Ryan had a few fire spells up his sleeve. The bears, Jack and Geoff handled for Ryan. If he drained his magicka while in the cavern, they might not be able to get away from a spriggan.

By the time they were ready to leave, Ryan had about 5 or 6 taproot and a few other ingredients, but also wanted to get the plants around the cavern before they went. ‘Plants are always useful,’ he would explain.

When they emerged from the cavern, they found the lads all covered in snow and laughing. Gavin seemed to be buried under snow, Michael’s fur armor was all wet, and Ray was stuck in a pile of snow under a tree.

“So, uh, care to explain what happened?” Geoff asked.

“Snowball fight. Michael jumped at the tree and a whole pile of snow fell on Ray so I fell down laughing and well,” Gavin explained.

“You had a snowball fight? How? You think Falkreath is too cold.”

“It was fun. I am now freezing though.”

“Of course you are, idiot, you’re covered in snow.”

Geoff sat Gavin up and brushed him off while Ryan pulled Ray out of the snow pile. Michael was giggling about it when the two were finally cleaned off and shivering.

“So,” Ray asked through chattering teeth, “can we go back to Solitude? Rent a room out? Maybe? Please?”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”


	9. Imperial Throne

The walk back to Solitude saw the sun peeking out from behind the clouds that had brought all the snow, warming up the back of Elven ears. The walk itself was a steep climb up the hill to the front gate, but from there it was a breeze. The steep buildings and warmth on his neck suddenly made Ray feel as if he was home in Valenwood. Ray wanted to look around Solitude as if it was brand new to him, but he couldn’t, as they were all headed to the inn to warm up.

The gentle roar of the burning fire brought warmth back to Gavin’s cheeks as they sat around and settled in for food and drink. The Gents treated everyone to stew and warm cider, which easily went down to warm up the elves. The fire itself reminder Jack of something he had long wanted to try and Solitude provided the perfect opportunity for.

“I might go by the blacksmith in a bit and see if I can learn anything,” said Jack, setting an empty bowl of beef stew down on the table whilst giving Geoff a loopy grin. “It’d be helpful to have that sort of knowledge with how much we travel.”

“Alright, just…be careful. The imperial army is here and you know exactly what Michael and I have,” Geoff warned, finishing off a bottle of mead. The matter was the amulets of Talos that Geoff and Michael both wore, hidden beneath their armor. It was important for them both not to get caught wearing the amulets in the heart of Skyrim’s Empire.

“Geoff, I want to go and explore the city a little bit,” Ray said quietly, ear pivoting towards Geoff to hear his answer loud and clear. Ray was usually never interested in the workings of a Nord city, but this just seemed so much like home to him. Sure, they weren’t walking tree cities, but the talk city scape almost made up for the manmade city. Ray was quick to dart away when Geoff told him he could go.

The city was warm for once that day, allowing Ray to go without some form of cape. He went through every alley, explored every crevice he could. Ray even climbed a tiny bit, just to get a feel for the city. The way it jutted of the ocean and left the outskirts just that little bit foggy were absolutely beautiful to the wood elf. He wanted to run back to Geoff and demand they get a house in the city.

But he didn’t because he got the feeling that living in this city was ridiculously expensive. Besides, the city was run by the Imperial Army and until the civil war got settled, there would simply be no way Michael and Geoff could live in this city in total safety. Ray simply allowed himself to take in what he could of the city and save it away for a time when it would be more reasonable to live there.

Solitude seemed like an accepting city to Ray. Elves had jobs here; Altmer like Gavin was. Though, Ray hadn’t seen any other Bosmer so he didn’t know how the city’s population would react to him being around.

While Ray was out exploring, Jack had gone to see if the busy blacksmith could teach him a thing or two about smithing. The blacksmith’s name was Beirand and, though busy, he managed to take time out of his day to teach Jack a few things.

“It’s all in how you hit the metal and how hot it is. The more you work at it, the easier shaping the metal gets. You use the forge to heat your metals and most things you created are going to need leather or leather strips, which you tan hides to get. Once you have your basic weapon, use the grindstone if you want to sharpen it. If you made some armor, you’ll need to use the workbench to improve on that,” Beirand offered, not looking up from the piece he was working on.

Jack was happy to take in this information. In fact, the imperial might have been taking notes. “And where should I look to get the materials I need?” Jack asked politely.

“Well, the mines are always a good place to start. Of course, you could just buy your materials, but that would simply be a waste of money seeing as the materials are sold for much more than the amount actually used in the finished product. A good way to learn to shape those materials would be to make nails or daggers until you’re confident enough to create better things.”

The reason Beirand was sharing these things with Jack was because Jack claimed to be an aspiring blacksmith looking to open up a shop somewhere. Jack was sure the Imperial Army’s smith never would have told him these things unless he had a reason. Nevertheless, Jack was learning about a skill he had been interested in for a long time, soaking in information much like he was soaking in the heat of the forge.

“And what about jewelry?” Jack asked timidly, voice still loud to be heard over the hammering of Beirand.

“Ah, jewelry! Something crafted just for that special someone, right? (Jack nodded.) Ah, well, you’ll be wanting to go see a silversmith for anything on that. I mostly work with weapons and armor. An old friend in Riften, Madesi, he can help you there. He knows the inner and outer works of those fine things. Some of his wares are even sold here when he has the time to deliver. Radiant Raiments should have a few of his rings left in stock if you want to check the quality of his work.”

“Okay, do you think you can teach me about any other minerals? Like ebony?”

“Ah, ebony. That is a material which I rarely ever see nowadays. What with the war and all. I mostly work with leather and steel here. However, if you can find a copy of Heavy Armor Forging, I’m sure it would prove most useful.”

“Well, thank you for your time then, Beirand.”

“It’s always a pleasure to help someone learning the skill of smithing. Take care.”

Later on everyone had recollected at the inn to spend another night. Michael was holding onto a message from a courier which looked to be important. He was excited to tell everyone what the message held for them. Jack also had something exciting to tell everyone, while Ray had a question.

When they had settled in their expansive room with some food and drink, Michael opened the letter and read aloud.

“Dear Michael,

I’m getting married! I met this girl named Barbara and she is absolutely wonderful. She’s a Breton bard who was introduced to me by Caleb of all people! We’re getting married in Riften on Fredas 26 of the Evening Star, giving you and your merry band plenty of time to get to the Rift.

With love of Akatosh,

Lindsay”

“So basically, Lindsay has invited us to her wedding,” Michael said to finish off his reading of the letter. “And we should go.”

“Agreed, we should,” Geoff said, making sure everyone else, in turn, would agree.

Next came Ray’s question, once excitement over the wedding had stopped. “Geoff,” he started softly, “Do you think we could get a house somewhere, maybe even here?” He knew it’d be ridiculous to ask, but he just wanted to see.

“No, I don’t think so, but Jack was thinking we could get a house in Morthal. Right Jack?” Geoff said, trying to lessen Ray’s disappointment.

“Right, well. I was going to build us a house in Morthal, now that I’ve learned a thing or two about smithing,” Jack replied, eagerly grinning at his lovers.

“That sounds like a great idea, Jack,” Ryan said, hands clasped together from joy. Even Ray now looked excited for this new home and now no one could contain their smiles. They would set out for Morthal in the morning.


	10. Out of the Cold

InMorthal, the guys were welcomed back with open arms. After the defeat of the vampires, the guys’ names were sort of a local legend. Jack went directly to the Jarl of Hjaalmarch to ask if the land was still open for them.

“Well, it’s still open, but I need you to do something for me first. I overheard my poor housecarl, Gorm, looking for someone to take a letter to Solitude for him. If you could do my housecarl a favor and take his letter?” asked Jarl Ingrod.

“Sure, I could do that,” Jack said. “It’s only across this swamp.”

Tracking down Gorm was more difficult than expected. He wasn’t interested in giving Jack the letter while he was nearby the Jarl. However, when Jack went to see Gorm one last time to plead with him to allow Jack to take the letter, he found Gorm much more open about it.

“She’s so lost in her visions, and it’s only getting worse. I’ve looked after her safety for so long… If she can’t tell what’s real and what’s not, how will she continue to lead Hjaalmarch?” Gorm asked, his face sober.

“Well, is there any way I can help?” Jack suggested, sitting down on the bench next to him.

“Yes, I suppose there is. There is a letter, one I have had for some time now. I think it is time it gets delivered. I cannot leave Idgrod’s side, so I must stay here. Could you see that it reaches Captain Aldis in Solitude?”

“Ingrod told me about the letter and I can take it, but does she know what’s inside it?”

“She knows of it at all?”

“She asked me to help you personally. Would you like me to take it now?”

“Yes. Thank you. Please, do not open it. It is… private.”

“What’s within the letter?”

“I told you, it’s private.”

“Alright, fine. I’ll leave with it in the morning.”

It was a night of restless sleep for Jack; he spent it wondering what that letter could say. In the morning he left on his own for Solitude since it would not take him long to arrive. He decided to transverse through the swamp to get ingredients for Ryan and also give him a private place to read. He simply had to know what he was delivering.

When he opened the letter, he was shocked to find what it said. “Aldis, you know what we’ve spoken of in the past. It is time. Change is needed; something must be done. I await your response. Gorm.” The letter, though vague, led Jack to believe he was trying to have Jarl Ingrod removed from power. It wasn’t in Jack’s place to say whether he was right to do that or not, but it was in his place to deliver the letter.

In Morthal, Geoff was busy making a few extra coin by chopping firewood for a man named Jorgen. It was grueling, but the Lads seemed to like watching him sweat while he chopped wood. In fact, they kept cheering him on and would take the chopped firewood to Jorgen whenever Geoff had chopped too much to carry.

Ryan had gone off to explore the town a little. If they were to live here, he wanted to know more about it. He had already spent the day reading while Geoff chopped wood, but now he had overheard something about a Nordic barrow to the southeast of the town and had to check it out for himself.

When he arrived he found the barrow defended by a skeleton who he easily took out with a simple firebolt spell. He took bonemeal from it before entering the barrow. It was small enough for him to explore on his own, just a small circle of a thing. He found a book for those studying illusions, The Black Arts on Trial, and took it for himself before turning into the center room. There was a poor dead conjurer there, who Ryan wasn’t about to loot, and a scroll. When Ryan read it, he found it to be a scroll of Turn Lesser Undead and pocketed it because if he didn’t need it he was sure one of his boyfriends would find some use for it.

Jack only took half the day to get to Solitude as it was only a short ways away through Morthal’s swamp. However, since he arrived at night, he thought it would be better if he took a room in the inn for a night. He tried to keep out of sight, because wouldn’t it seem odd to someone who saw him leaving solitude to see him again so soon.

He slept the night away and went to see Captain Aldis in the morning. He was standing out in the yard training Imperial soldiers and Jack was very glad he had not brought Michael or Geoff with him. Too risky that they Amulets of Talos would be seen.

“Captain Aldis! I have a letter for you!” Jack said, running up to the captain and trying not to look incredibly awkward.

“For me?” he asked, giving Jack a wary eye. “From whom?”

“Gorm, in Morthal. I assume it’s important.”

“Well now, that is something. Hand it over please.”

Jack quickly handed the letter to Captain Aldis, happy it hadn’t had a seal on it. Captain Aldis read the letter and his face was quick to change from interested to concerned.

“Oh, no. I hadn’t heard from Gorm for a while, so I’d hoped he’d given up on his little scheme. The last time we’d discussed this issue was before this damnable war broke out. Things were different then. Now, what’s he’s asking, it’s just impossible. Even if it worked, the questions and accusations it would cause…” Captain Aldis sighed. “Well, I’ll take it under advisement. Thank you for this.”

He handed Jack 20 gold before sending him on his way. Jack took it as heading back to Morthal as fast as he could, taking the swamps again. He stopped every once in a while to pick a deathbell or swamp fungal pod for Ryan or to fight a frostbite spider who had made itself known. When he got back he had a handful of deathbells and swamp fungal pods to give to Ryan and good news to give to Gorm and Ingrod.

“The letter’s been delivered. May we now purchase that land?” Jack asked after getting an audience with the Jarl who seemed oddly delighted he had helped her housecarl.

“Yes of course, as long as you have the 5000 gold the land would go for?” she asked, excited that someone would finally be using that land.

“That shouldn’t be a problem!” Geoff announced upon walking in. He smelled of heat and sweat and looked ragged with fatigue but all the same hand a large coin purse in hand. “You’ll find all 5000 septims in there.”

“Where did you get all that?” Jack asked, incredulous.

“I spent the day chopping wood and I tired the lads out by making them carry it all for me!” Geoff laughed, patting Jack’s back as Gorm took the money for the house.

“Very well, then. The land is yours’ to do with how you will,” the Jarl announced much to Jack’s excitement.

“Ryan and the Lads are already asleep in the inn. I guess we should probably join them, huh?” Geoff asked.

“Yes, because tomorrow morning I’m going to wear you all ragged to build that house.”


End file.
